Just been having a surf around to see if Sainsbury's has an apostrophe. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, but on their web site and - I'm pretty sure - on the store fronts it does. Wonder how long it'll take for them to abandon it.
The name of our road should contain an apostrophe and does on one sign but not the other two! On one occassion completing an internet form it would not allow me to put the apostrophe in my address.
I do hope they don't disappear, they make sentences make sense but it is a shame they are used randomly. I failed to convince the Manager of Sainsburys where we used to live that he was not selling something belonging to CD
I wouldn't think apostrophes are necessary in road signs. The signs are there for a purpose and so long as everyone can understand them, then that's ok. Seems a waste of time and effort to put them in tbh.
It doesn't mean apostrophes will vanish from the English language. Books, newspapers, etc. etc. will still use them.
Do those who design the signs not have a basic grounding in grammar? Removing apostrophes will just be the thin end of the wedge - before we know it, everything will be in text-speak.
I think this has already happened in some areas - Birmingham for one. Apostrophes will probably disappear from the English language because people no longer know how to use them. I hope it won't be in my lifetime.